Poetic Terms
alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Ex: Mother whose heart hung humble as a button assonance: the repetition of a vowel sound within nonrhyming words. Ex: “ached from labor in the weekday weather”
blank verse: unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter. ballad: a narrative poem (poem that tells a story) that was originally meant to be sung. blank verse: unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter. Ex: “A common slave – you know him well by sight” cliché: an overused phrase or expression that writers must avoid using. Ex: “as hungry as a horse” “as sweet as sugar”
connotation: the emotional response caused by a word. consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds within and at the ends of words. Ex: “Last, but not least” denotation: the literal dictionary definition of a word. form: the physical arrangement of words in a poem – length and placement of lines and grouping of lines into stanzas.
imagery: words and phrases that re-create vivid sensory experiences. free verse: poetry that does not contain regular patterns of rhyme and meter. iambic pentameter: five feet of stressed/unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. - / - / - / - / - / Ex: “The course of true love never did run smooth” imagery: words and phrases that re-create vivid sensory experiences.
meter: the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry. lyric: originally, a song accompanied by music; in poetry, a short poem that presents a single speaker who expresses his or her innermost thoughts and feelings. metaphor: makes a comparison between two things by saying one IS the other. meter: the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry. onomatopoeia: the process of creating or using words that imitate sounds. Ex: the buzz of a bee
personification: human qualities are given to an object, animal, or idea. Ex: “The opening of the cave yawned wide.” rhyme: the sounds of accented vowels and all succeeding sounds are identical. true rhyme: “day” and “may” end rhyme: rhyming the last words of lines off rhyme: “other” and “bother” internal rhyme: rhyming in a line (Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary/)
rhyme scheme: the pattern of end rhyme in a poem; the pattern is charted using the letters of the alphabet, starting with “a.” But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest
rhythm: the pattern or beat of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry; used to bring out the musical quality of the poem. simile: a stated comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.” sonnet: a lyric poem of 14 lines, commonly written in iambic pentameter. speaker: the voice that “talks” to the reader in a poem. stanza: a group of lines that form a unit of poetry. theme: the central idea or message in a work of literature. tone: the attitude a writer takes toward a subject.